The cemetery of Levadki located int eh vicinity of present-day Simferopol existed from the mid-/second half of the second century BC to the mid-third century AD and belonged to the Late Scythian and Sarmatian populations. The many-year-long researches uncovered 193 funeral structures. Moreover, 33 storage pits were discovered in different cemetery areas. The household complex with the said pits probably was a peripheral area of the nearby fortified settlement of Zmeinoe. There were two cases of the household pits used as burial structures. These graves resemble the earliest grave type documented in the cemetery in question, i. e. chambered graves (catacombs). The datable materials in possessions confirms this suggestion. One of the graves was cut by an undercut grave from the second half of the first or the first half of the second century AD. The discovered assemblages allow the one to clarify the succession of events related to the history of the area in question. Therefore, this paper introduces into the scholarship the materials discovered in the burials of the cemetery in question.
Crimea, Levadki cemetery, Zmeinoe fortified settlement, Late Scythians, Sarmatians, chambered graves, burial vaults, funeral rite, storage pits
1. Alekseeva E.M. Antichnye busy Severnogo Prichernomor’ia [Antique beads of the Northern Black Sea region]. [Part 1]. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 1975, 104 p. (Svod arkheologicheskikh istochnikov. Vol. G1-12).
2. Alekseeva E.M. Antichnye busy Severnogo Prichernomor’ia [Antique beads of the Northern Black Sea region]. [Part 2]. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 1978, 109 p. 104 s. (Svod arkheologicheskikh istochnikov. Vol. G1-12).
3. Alekseeva E.M. Antichnye busy Severnogo Prichernomor’ia [Antique beads of the Northern Black Sea region]. [Part 3]. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 1982, 104 p. 104 s. (Svod arkheologicheskikh istochnikov. Vol. G1-12).
4. Ambroz A.K. Fibuly iuga Evropeiskoi chasti SSSR II v. do n.e. - IV v. n.e. [Fibulae in the south of the European part of the USSR, 2nd century BC - 4th century AD]. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 1966, 142 p. (Svod arkheologicheskikh istochnikov. Vol. D1-30).
5. Blavatskii V.D. The first year of the Sindh expedition. Kratkie soobshcheniia Instituta istorii material’noi kul’tury [Brief Communications of the Institute of the History of Material Culture], 1952, vol. 48, pp. 71-80.
6. Blavatskii V.D. Zemledelie v antichnykh gosudarstvakh Severnogo Prichernomor’ia [Agriculture in the ancient states of the Northern Black Sea region]. Moscow, USSR Academy of Sciences Publ., 1953, 208 p.
7. Veselovskii N.I. Scythian horseman (belt buckle). Izvestiia Tavricheskoi uchenoi arkhivnoi komissii [Prceedings of the Taurida Learned Archival Commission], 1891, vol. 14, pp. 81-83.
8. Gaidukevich V.F. Necropolises of some Bosporan cities (based on excavations in the 1930s). Materialy i issledovaniia po arkheologii SSSR [Materials and research on the archeology of the USSR], 1959, vol. 69, pp. 154-238.
9. Dashevskaia O.D. Pozdnie skify v Krymu [Late Scythians in the Crimea]. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 1991, 140 p. (Svod arkheologicheskikh istochnikov. Vol. D1-7).
10. Dzigovskii A.N. Ocherki istorii sarmatov Karpato-Dneprovskikh zemel’ [Essays on the history of the Sarmatians of the Carpatho-Dnieper lands]. Odessa, Germes Publ., 2003, 240 p.
11. Zhuravlev D.V. Krasnolakovaia keramika Iugo-Zapadnogo Kryma I-III vv. n.e. (Po materialam pozdneskifskikh nekropolei Bel’bekskoi doliny) [Red Slip Ware of the Southwestern Crimea, 1st-3rd centuries AD (According to the materials of the Late Scythian necropolises of the Belbek Valley)]. Simferopol, 2010, 320 p.
12. Zaitsev Iu.P. Artistic iron products of the 3rd-1st centuries BC in the Northern Black Sea. Zuev V.Iu. (Ed.), Bosporskii fenomen. Iskusstvo na periferii antichnogo mira. Materialy mezhdunarodnoi nauchnoi konferentsii [Bosporan phenomenon. Art on the periphery of the ancient world. Materials of the international scientific conference], St Petesburg, Nestor-Istoriia Publ., 2009, pp. 539-544.
13. Zaitsev Iu.P., Koltukhov S.G. The burial of warrior of Hellenisic period near Chisten’koe village at the foothills of Crimea. Bosporskie issledovaniia [Bosporos Studies], 2004, Vol. 7, pp. 242-259.
14. Zaitsev Iu.P., Mordvintseva V.I. Mound with “collective” burials from the vicinity of Ak-Kaya settlement. Zaitsev Iu.P., Puzdrovskii A.E. (Eds.), Drevniaia i srednevekovaia Tavrika [Ancient and medieval Taurica], Donetsk, Donbass Publ., 2010, pp. 169-176. (Arkheologicheskii al’manakh. Vol. 22).
15. Zeest I.B. Cimmerian flour-grinding workshop and grain farming of the Bosporus. Kratkie soobshcheniia Instituta istorii material’noi kul’tury [Brief Communications of the Institute of the History of Material Culture], 1950, Vol. 33, pp. 96-102.
16. Koltukhov S.G. Report on security excavations and exploration at the Late Scythian monuments of the Simferopol region in 1980. Arkhiv Instituta arkheologii NAN Ukrainy [Archive of the Institute of Archeology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine]. D. 9698.
17. Kropotov V.V. Fibuly sarmatskoi epokhi [Fibulae of the Sarmatian era]. Kiev, ADEF-Ukraina Publ., 2010, 383 p.
18. Liberov P.D. On the history of agriculture among the Scythian tribes of the Dnieper region of the Early Iron Age in the 6th-2nd centuries BC. Grekov B.D. (Ed.), Materialy po istorii zemledeliia SSSR [Materials on the history of agriculture in the USSR], Moscow, USSR Academy of Sciences Publ., 1952, T. 1, pp. 66-114.
19. Mul’d S.A., Kropotov V.V. The Late Scythian cemetery Levadki in the Central Crimea (II century BC - III century AD). Ufimskii arkheologicheskii vestnik [The Ufa Archaeological Herald], Ufa, 2015, pp. 117-129.
20. Puzdrovskii A.E. Krymskaia Skifiia II v. do n.e. - III v. n.e. Pogrebal’nye pamiatniki [Crimean Scythia 2nd c. BC - 3 c. AD. Funerary monuments]. Simferopol, Biznes-Inform Publ., 2007, 480 p.
21. Rostovtsev M.I. Antichnaia dekorativnaia zhivopis’ na iuge Rossii. T. I. Opisanie i issledovanie pamiatnikov [Antique decorative painting in the south of Russia. T. I. Description and study of monuments]. St Petersburg, 1914, 537 p.
22. Redina E.F., Simonenko A.V. “Treasure” of the end of the 2nd - 1st c. BC from Vesela Dolina in the circle of similar antiquities of Eastern Europe. Marchenko I.I. (Ed.), Materialy i issledovaniia po arkheologii Kubani [Materials and research on the archeology of the Kuban], Krasnodar, 2002, Vol. 2, pp. 78-96.
23. Sizov V.I. Eastern coast of the Black Sea. Archaeological excursions. Materialy po arkheologii Kavkaza [Materials on the archeology of the Caucasus], 1889, Vol. 2, 182 p.
24. Strzhletskii S.F., Vysotskaia T.N., Ryzhova L.A., Zhestkova G.I. The Population in the Neighborhood of Chersonesos Tauricus in the First Half of 1st Millennium A.D. (by materials of the necropolis “Sovkhoz No. 10”). Stratum plus, 2003, No. 4, pp. 27-277.
25. Symonovich E.A. Naselenie stolitsy pozdneskifskogo tsarstva (po materialam Vostochnogo mogil’nika Neapolia Skifskogo) [The population of the capital of the late Scythian kingdom (based on materials from the Eastern burial ground of Scythian Naples)]. Kiev, Naukova dumka Publ., 1983, 176 p.
26. Troitskaia T.N. Finds from the Scythian mounds of the Crimea, stored in the regional museum of local lore. Shul’ts P.N. (Ed.), Istoriia i arkheologiia drevnego Kryma [History and archeology of ancient Crimea], Kiev, USSR Academy of Sciences Publ., 1957, pp. 174-190.
27. Trufanov A.A. Typology of red-glazed plates with a vertical rim (based on materials from the burial grounds of the South-Western and Central Crimea). Khrapunov I.N. (Ed.), Bakhchisaraiskii istoriko-arkheologicheskii sbornik [Bakhchisaray historical and archaeological collection], Simferopol, Tavriia Publ., 1997, pp. 181-192.
28. Trufanov A.A. Chronology of Cemeteries of Crimean Foothills of the 1st c. BC - 3rd c. AD. Stratum plus, 2009, No. 4, pp. 117-328.
29. Khrapunov I.N., Mul’d S.A. The catacombs from the Fontana and Levadka’s necropolis in connection with the origin of the Late Scythian culture. Abramzon M.G. (Ed.), Problemy istorii, filologii, kul’tury [Journal of Historical, Philological and Cultural Studies], Magnitogorsk, 2004, pp. 239-269.
30. Mordvinceva V., Redina E. Der Depotfund von Veselaja Dolina. Die Krim. Goldene Insel im Schwarzen Meer. Griechen - Skythen - Goten. Begleitbuch zur Ausstellung im LVR-LandesMuseum Bonn: 4. Juli 2013 - 19. Januar 2014. Frankfurt a.M., 2013, pp. 394-401.
